Description

WRTG 394 students,

Your next writing assignment will be a background review and synthesis of the literature for

the topic of your research-based report.

This assignment is designed to help you prepare for the final paper in WRTG 394. Keep in mind

that your final paper in WRTG 394 will be a report in which you do the following:

 define a problem in your workplace or community persuasively and accurately

 propose a solution or solutions to the problem or issue

Steps to Take in Completing this Assignment:

 Locate at least seven articles on your topic. At least four articles should come from

scholarly journals or credible trade journals. You should use OneSearch through

UMUC’s Library and Information Services or individual databases through the library for

your research.

Take notes, perhaps by applying the skills from your annotated bibliography exercise, on

each article.

 Write a synthesis of the articles. The synthesis will be 1000-1400 words.

In your synthesis, you will group the themes of the articles. For example, if you have

collected seven articles on the topic of paperless offices, you might find that three major

themes emerge from your perusing of the seven articles:

•  common reasons for resisting the move to a paperless office
•  costs of transitioning to a paperless office
•  benefits of transitioning to a paperless office

Examples of Topics and the Role of this Assignment:

You might write a report on any one of the following topics. Please note that these are

examples of topics. You might not choose any of them. They are provided here to help illustrate

this assignment.

 a report to your manager at work suggesting that more teleworking options be given to

employees at your workplace

 a report to your supervisor at work suggesting that email be used less frequently for

communication and that another application is used to improve communication.

 a report to your manager at work suggesting that your office become paperless

 a report to the board of directors at your townhouse community to argue that the

playground area in your community should be renovated

 a report to the manager of your unit at work noting that recycling facility in the

a workplace should be improved

In any report of this nature, some background research is necessary. For example, consider the

following strategies when collecting background research for the topics mentioned above:

For a report to your manager at work suggesting that more teleworking options be given

to employees at your workplace, some research studies on teleworking would be very

persuasive.

 For a report to your supervisor at work suggesting that email be used less frequently for

communication and that another application be used to improve communication, some

scholarly literature or articles from credible trade journals on transitioning to alternative

electronic communication would be beneficial. In addition, articles that demonstrate the

problems with email communication would add to the argument.

 For a report to your manager at work suggesting that your office become paperless, some

scholarly literature on paperless offices would be effective.

 For a report to the board of directors at your townhouse community to argue that the

playground area in your community should be renovated, some scholarly articles or trade

journal articles on the benefits of playground areas for communities, the benefits of

exercise for young children, the effect of such playground areas on home values, etc.

would be effective.

 For a report to the manager of your unit at work arguing that the recycling facility in the

a workplace should be improved, some scholarly articles or studies on the challenges of

and benefits of implementing recycling facilities in organizations would be persuasive.

Of course, there are varieties of recycling programs. The articles you find would help

define what type of recycling program you would propose.

Length of your paper:

As noted above, your background review of the literature on your topic should be 1000-1400

words in length.

The sources should be cited throughout the paper in APA format and listed in a References page

at the end of the paper in APA format.

Due Date:

• Your instructor will notify you of the due date. You will write the first draft, your instructor will

comment on the first draft, and you will submit a second draft using the comments as your guide.

You will find that your synthesis will be a helpful component of your final research-based report.

In fact, if your synthesis is well written, you might be able to take whole parts of it and copy it

into the final report. In any case, the skills and strategies you gain from writing the background

review and synthesis of literature will be very valuable in writing your final research-based

report.

Topics to Help You Come Up with Ideas on this Assignment:

Some possible workplace research topics are the following. These are examples to help you get

started. Please contact your instructor to have other topic ideas approved.

•  Going to a wireless network
•  Going to a paperless office
•  Switching from Windows to Linux (or another similar switch)
•  Installing/upgrading company firewall
•  Establishing a drug policy
•  Establishing an employee leave donation program
•  Establishing an equipment donation program for used computers, etc.
•  Establishing a company recycling program (paper, etc.)
•  Education/retraining for your employees
•  Establishing a program for millennial workers (e.g., training on certain aspects of

etiquette, on understanding other generations, etc.)

•  Designing a training program for workplace safety issues
• Redesigning employee performance evaluations
•  Developing a work-at-home (telecommuting) policy
•  Developing a flex-time policy
•  Establishing on-site daycare or providing other childcare benefits
•  Providing gym membership or creating an on-site workout facility
•  Creating or revising a charitable contribution policy
•  Creating or improving a tuition assistance program
•  Accommodations needed for employee/s with specific health issues (for example,

migraines)

• Establishing a Habitat for Humanity (or another group) chapter at your organization